Round 7 - Race Report

The last round of the 2023/24 Gulf Radical Cup (GRC) took place on the challenging 3.56 km National Circuit at the Dubai Autodrome. Although 25 drivers had taken part this season in what has become the region’s premier sportscar championship, this particular event was particularly important to four drivers who were in with a shout of the title; namely Alex Bukhantsov (TT Racing), Usmaan Mughal (Relentless By GulfSport Racing), Alim Geshev (TT Racing) and Jimmy Chou (TT Racing).

As the teams and drivers arrived at the circuit the points difference between these four was 110 points. However, there was a total of 122 points available due to it being the ‘double points’ weekend. So GRC championship leader and current Asia Le Mans Series Champion Alex Bukhantsov would need to be on his game if he were to secure his second GRC title and the award of a test drive in Spain with Team Virage, one of Europe’s top endurance racing teams. This includes spending the first of two days at the Virage Academy facility in their state of the art simulator, then taking to the track in Valencia the following day in one of their LMP3 cars.

This season saw the launch of a National Class Award which enables the 14 competitors who hold a National level race licence (as distinct from an International Licence) to score points on a separate tally to compete for the award at the end of the season. Not only will the winner be recognised as the GRC National Class Champion, they will also be awarded a funded race event in a Radical SR3 XXR competing in the 2024 Hagerty Radical Cup UK. The leading contenders for this title are Mughal and Geshev separated by only 17 points going into the double points weekend.

Qualification.

Saturday proved to be an unusually hectic Raceday with two quali sessions to decide the grid for both of the 20 minute Sprint Races and the main 45 minute race which would take place under newly installed track lights at the Dubai Autodrome later that evening.

The first quali session resulted in the two points leaders, Bukhantshov and Mughal on the front row of the grid for Sprint Race 1. Based on their second best lap times Jimmy Chou managed to get himself on the front row for Sprint Race 2, demoting Mughal to P3.

The second quali session finished with Bukhantsov claiming the pole position for the Enduro next to Geshev with Mughal and Chou on row two. Brazilian driver Suellio Almeida finished a creditable 5th fastest ahead of the experienced Johnny Khazzoum in P6.

Sprint Race 1

As the race got underway it was Geshev who got the jump and led the pack as they raced through turn 1. Chased close behind by Chou and Mughal.

This season has seen a far more strict application of penalties for drivers, particularly for track limit infringements. Sprint Race 1 was no exception with only two drivers not being shown warning flags.

So as the race drew to a close the 4 drivers were only covered by a few seconds and as a result of repeated infringements three drivers were given a 10 second penalty. Bukhantsov being one of them which moved him down to 4th place in the results. Alim Geshev who was initially given a penalty had it removed after further investigation by the stewards, meaning he took a great win from Chou and Mughal.

Sprint Race 2

As the pack raced away mughal overcooked it going into Turn 1 on the first lap which handicapped his race considerably with a badly flat spotted tyre, worse than that he was later handed a 5 second penalty for not returning to the track correctly as directed by the CoC. Bukhantsov was driving an impeccable race, and was charging away from the field. He had decided to use his second set of tyres early (normally used for the Endurance race), on the basis that he could seal up the series by taking a convincing win in Sprint Race 2. And that he did by on with a 12 second margin over Chou who was being hounded by Geshev. Feyzulin finished 4th ahead of Kazzoum and Monie. Notably this weekend, and making his racing debut was George Harding. Harding was locked in a battle fighting for 8th, making a great last lap moving and securing the place, taking points on his race debut.

This result meant that Alex Bukhantsov was able to retain his GRC Championship title and so was awarded the LMP3 test in Spain with Team Virage.

Endurance Race

Going into the final championship endurance race of the season with its mandatory 45 second pitstop, success penalties would play a major part as Alim Geshev would have to wait an extra 20 seconds before returning to the track as a result of winning the previous endurance race. Championship leader Bukhantsov had to serve an additional 15 seconds whilst Feyzulin and Mughal would have an extra 5 seconds added.

So, while the top spot was secure it was now the Vice Champion spot that was the focus of Mughal, Geshev and Chou.

The pack thundered downhill to Turn 1 with Bukhantsov just ahead and Mughal getting past Geshev with Chou very close behind. On lap 5 Mughal was able to squeeze through a very small gap at turn 9 to take the lead away from Bukhantsov with Chou taking advantage of the chaos to claim P2. With clear air Mughal was able to gap Chou and Bukhantsov and set the fastest lap of the race on lap 8 at 1:24.806 now with a 2.7 second lead over the young driver from Taiwan.

On lap 16 Mughal and Chou dived into the pits handing the lead to Bukhantsov. Although Mughal had an additional 5 second success penalty to serve, he came in 5 seconds ahead of Chou and so was just able to exit the pits ahead. After a couple of laps Bukhantsov made his pitstop and rejoined the race in P5. By lap 20 Chou has closed the gap and was now only 0.7 seconds behind Mughal. Professional sim racing coach Suellio Almeida, in his first race in the GRC was now in the hunt as he rejoined the circuit in P3 after the pitstops, clearly getting familiar with driving a ‘real’ race car, his 1,700 hours of sim race coaching experience proving to be of huge value

On lap 28 Chou stopped in sector 2 with a technical gremlin, handing second place to Brazilian Almeida and with Bukhantsov now back up to P3 after getting past Johnny Khazzoum. At the finish, after 31 hectic laps of Dubai’s most technical circuit Mughal claimed victory 12 seconds ahead of the Almeida who was 11 seconds ahead of Bukhantsov.

Usmaan Mughal won the inaugural National Class Champion title with a fully funded drive at Silverstone in July in the Hagerty Radical Cup.

These awards were presented to the drivers the following evening at GulfSport’s glamorous end of season gathering at the prestigious Volante Tower (volantedubai.com) in the Business District of downtown Dubai where there was an extra special announcement - the Radical World Finals would be hosted by GulfSport at the Yas Marina Grand Prix Circuit in November.

This will enable the ‘local’ drivers to compete against many of the world’s best Radical pilots - very good news indeed!

The main season might be over, but this year sees the introduction on teh GRC SuperPrix. An 85 minute endurance race, with SuperPole taking place on the 20th of April at the Dubai Autodrome.

Radical World Finals to be held at Yas

After two successful World Finals in Las Vegas (2022) and Portimao (2023), Radical Motorsport have confirmed the chosen destination for the 2024 World Finals will be at the world-famous Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Radical owners and racers from around the world, including the 14 Radical Cup championships, are invited to join the event with registration opening later in April.

Headed by father-son duo Barry and Martin Hope, Radical UAE / GulfSport Racing, have been delivering the Radical market across the Gulf region for almost twenty years. In 2005, they established the Gulf Radical Cup, which remains one of the most popular of the official Radical Championships around the world.

The World Finals normally marks the end of the season for Radical’s 14 Cup Championships but for the Gulf Radical Cup it will be towards the start of the season, presenting an opportunity for Radical owners to extend their stay, and extend their racing calendar.

Further details and the booking process to attend the Radical World Finals 2024 will be announced in the coming weeks. Until then, Radical owners are invited to register their interest by emailing worldfinals@radicalmotorsport.com .

Round 6 - Race Report

The penultimate round of the Gulf Radical Cup took place in glorious racing conditions on the region’s most challenging layout with its 5.39 kms of undulating 14m wide circuit with 16 corners.

The Dubai Autodrome was conceived in 1997 by GulfSport partner, Andrew Lemon and was operational in 2004. As the best recognised Arab destination to most Westerners, Dubai is unique, boasting a fabulous climate and highly developed infrastructure. Its welcoming culture and flourishing industries has made it a popular tourist destination and a key business and financial centre for Africa and Asia.

One of the reasons the Gulf Radical Cup has become popular with drivers from the USA, Europe, Asia and Australasia is not just the weather, but an enormous amount of track time that enables drivers to enjoy mastering their Radical production sports prototypes, running this season on Pirelli P Zero tyres.

With 3 hour open pitlane test sessions on both Thursday and Friday, followed by 30 mins official practise, a qualification session before two 20 x minute sprint races, another quali and then the crucial 45 minute endurance race, competitors can enjoy more than 8 hours of track time!

The test sessions offer an interesting opportunity to compare Radical SR3 lap times with GT cars that compete in the GulfSport managed Gulf ProCar series. For example, Jimmy Chou, who commutes from Taiwan, did 44 laps of the GP Circuit with a best lap time of 2:02.291 in his SR3.

By contrast, American driver Keith Gatehouse did 31 laps in his Mercedes AMG GT4 with a best time of 2:07.571 and his compatriot Ryan Jurgensen ran 40 laps with a best time of 2:07.618 in a McLaren 570S.

Chou then found another 2 tenths in official practise to go fastest ahead of championship contender Usmaan Mughal by just 46 thousandths of a second! But notably, current champion Alex Bukhantsov was absent from this session.

The front row of the grid for the first sprint race contained Alim Geshev on pole, who had set a new quali lap record of 2:01.190 with Mughal just 0.117 behind him. The rolling start saw 13 cars barreling down to Turn 1 and as always the action was intense. By the end of the lap it was Geshev in the lead from Bukhantsov, Mughal and Chou. During this hectic 13 lap race, Bukhantsov managed to get past Geshev to take the win with Mughal in 3rd and Chou in 4th after Amir Feyzulin stopped on track bringing out the safety car.

The second sprint race got off with its customary rolling start with Geshev and Mughal side by side on the front row with Johnny Khazzoum and Bukhantsov right behind them. Going into Turn 1, Mughal spun off after being unintentionally tagged from behind which then gave him a mountain to climb if he was to make up ground again now from the back of the pack. But of course champion Bukhantsov was on form and soon found his way to the front followed by Geshev and Chou coming up from the third row. Mughal did well to fight back to 5th place just ahead of Emirati Abdulnasir Alhameedi and Khazzoum.

Sunday morning saw Bukhantsov claiming pole position in qualifying practise for the 45 minute endurance race that afternoon.

But it was Alim Geshev who got the holeshot and held the lead from Bukhantsov and Chou. As is customary, mandatory pitstop ‘success’ penalties meant that previous Endurance race winner Chou had to wait 20 seconds longer in the pits which made life more difficult for him. But then it got worse. He pulled away after his 65 second stop only to find a huge cloud of oil smoke coming from somewhere in his engine bay - he never made it back on the circuit. Mughal also suffered due to his previous 2nd place finish which meant he sat for an extra 15 seconds in the pitstop.

Bukhantsov had an extra 10 seconds to wait which put paid to any chances of him catching Geshev who went on to win the race. This may not have been such a good thing given that double points are on offer at the 7th and last round of the championship where he will now have to cope with a 20 second pitstop penalty. 2022 British GT Championship winner Ian Loggie, who was racing on an Invitational entry finished in 3rd place ahead of Amir Feyzulin and Mughal who had to fight his way through the field again given his P8 grid position and pitstop penalty. We also saw an impressive drive from rookie Dutch driver Joel Strijder who finished 6th ahead of Johnny Khazzoum after a P9 start.

Round 7, the last event of the Championship will take place in Dubai on the 31st March.

Sprint Race One

Sprint Race Two

Endurance Race

Round 5 - Race Report

The unusually heavy rain caused by local cloud seeding abated to leave familiar blue skies and perfect weather for motor racing on the 5.4kms Dubai Autodrome GP Circuit. It was fascinating to see the inaugural 2006 Gulf Radical Cup champion, Karim Al Azhari at the event with his 16 year old son Keanu, who was leading the F4 UAE Championship.

The Saturday morning quali session offered a hint of what to expect with two talented 16 year olds fighting it out for pole position in the 25 minute Sprint races that would take place later that day. In the end it was young Mexican Ian Aquilera beating the British young gun, Luke Hilton by just 44 hundredths of a second with a time of 2:01.273.

With the temperatures back into the high 20s, the first Sprint Race kicked off with a bang as 14 cars arrived into Turn 1at 120mph. Hilton got the best start but through the next couple of turns the fight for 2nd place was intense with current champion Alex Bukhantsov (have just won the Asian Lemans Series in his LMP3 car at YAS last weekend), his rival Usmaan Mughal, Alim Geshev and Aquilera in the mix. The second lap saw Hilton starting to gap Bukhantsov, followed by Aquilera, Geshev, Jimmy Chou, Mughal, Amir Feyzulin, Joel Strijder, Abdulnasr AlHameedi, Igor Sorokin, Ibby Hadeed, Jahid Kareem, Johnny Khazzoum and Julien Monie. Aquilera’s pressure on Bukhantsov paid off as the champion uncharacteristically  went wide on Turn 14 gifting Aquilera P2 and allowing Geshev to try the same approach. The battles raged on and Hilton put on a great performance to extend his lead to 5 seconds when, with just 7 minutes to go, disaster struck as Hilton pulled off the back straight with a fuel pump issue.

So at the flag it was the young Mexican closely followed by Bukhantsov and Geshev.

The second Sprint Race started with Aquilera on pole, Geshev on P2, Mughal on P3 and Hilton on P4. The pack came slowly around the last turn (16) in perfect rolling start formation and with eyes focused on the gantry lights it was P2 man Geshev who was ahead of the pole man as the lights went out. Would he get a penalty? Geshev held the lead into turn 1 and took the lead of the race. Out of position was Alex Bukhantsov after a very troublesome quali session put him at the back of the grid, but with determination he was very quickly making up positions on the first lap. Mughal, 2nd in the championship was chasing Hilton into Turn 10 at the end of the back straight, but as Hilton shut the door on a fast approaching Mughal, he ended up spinning which dropped him to last place but got going again quickly.

The order after the first crucial lap was Geshev, Aquilera, Feyzulin, Hilton, Bukhantsov, Chou, Khazzoum, Monie, Hadeed, Al Hameedi, Strijder, Sorokin, Karrim and Mughal. But Aquilera was to get past Geshev to take the lead of the race as Mughal picked up several places towards the back of the field, with Bukhantsov right behind him in 5th place. Hilton, putting in some impressive lap times now took 3rd place away from Feyzulin. So it was another convincing victory for the young Aguilera.

Sunday morning saw a short quali session to determine the starting grid for the main 45 minute Endurance Race. Aguilera sat on pole with the current champion sitting to his left on P2, Hilton and Geshev on the second row, Feyzulin and Mughal on the third row, behind them were Chou and AlHameedi, Sorokin and Hadeed , Khazzoum and Karim, with Strijder and Monie on the last row. The Gulf Radical Cup grid always presents a very international flavour, and here we had drivers from Taiwan, Russia, St Kitts & Neavis, Mexico, UK, Pakistan, UAE, Canada, France, Holland and Lebanon. Meaning that many air miles are gained across the gird at each event, but none more than 17 year old Chou. He flys to every event from Taiwan. He shoots straight from school to the airport, lands just before testing. Then back to the airport and into school in Taiwan. I think thats called “commitment” - great to see!

The 45 minute race got off to a blistering and extremely wide start as they went downhill into Turn 1, a 17 metre wide right-hand bend similar to Paddock Hill Bend at Brands Hatch; a blind entry corner that requires commitment and accuracy and is one of several overtaking opportunities on the circuit. At the bottom of the hill after T1, T2 is a left hand high speed kink which compresses the racers into their seats, a little like a mini Eau Rouge. 

It was the young Mexican Aguilera who held the lead, from Bukhantsov with Geshev trying to go around both of them. Hilton appeared hooked to the back of the Number 1 car, but 17 year old Taiwanese driver Jimmy Chou, in his second season with GulfSport was looking menacing behind this group. The racing was extremely intense during that first lap as positions were constantly being challenged but fortunately no contact was made and as they went into lap two things started to settle down a bit. Alim Geshev cleverly moved passed Chou for 5th, with Mughal who was 2nd in championship points table down in 7th, followed by the Emirati Alhameedi, Sorokin, Khazzoum, Strijder, Hadeed, and Karim.

Hilton got past Feyzulin for 3rd place with Chou running in 5th still ahead of Geshev and Mughal. Hadeed then parked his car on the run off at turn 16 with a ‘technical’ which brought out the safety car just 1 minute before the 9 minute pit window was due to open. The mandatory pit stop is 45 seconds, but ‘success penalties’ are designed to throw a spanner in the works as the previous event winner has to wait a further 20 seconds, the 2nd place has 15 additional seconds and the 3rd place man gets 10. In this race that would be Aguilera, Bukhantsov and Geshev respectively.

So as the safety car pulled off the circuit, Aguilera dived straight in for his pit stop followed immediately by Hilton, Feyzulin and Chou thus handing the race lead to Bukhantsov who was being closely followed by Geshev, both of whom came into the pits the next time round handing the lead to Mughal who was the last man in with Alhameedi. After their 45 second stop Mughal and Alhameedi exited the pits to find themselves right behind Amir Feyzulin who was in second place behind new race leader Jimmy Chou.

The longer pit stops resulted in Bukhantsov and Aguilera now having to give chase from 7th and 8th places respectively but with only 16 minutes in which to do it. Jimmy Chou was able to celebrate his first ever race win as he crossed the line followed by Feyzulin and Mughal. Not far behind was Bukhantsov and Aguilera. Feyzulin was given a 10 second penalty for a start line infringement which elevated Mughal to P2 and Bukhantsov to P3.

Round 6 is in just two weeks in Dubai.

Round 4 - Race Report

There is perhaps no finer venue for an international race meeting than the billion dollar Yas Marina Circuit, developed to host the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as part of the development of Yas Island which includes nearby Ferrari World, an 18 hole links golf course, The Louvre and Yas Waterworld.

The Support Paddock was rammed with seventy Formula Regional Middle East and F4 UAE single seaters, whilst the F1 Paddock was reserved for the GulfSport run Gulf Radical Cup and Gulf ProCar cars plus the Hankook 6H Abu Dhabi GTs. In all, more than 200 drivers from the UK, Europe, Asia and the UAE. And unlike your typical European winter test event, there was not a cloud in the sky - for 4 days!

This was an extra special event for GulfSport given that it was exactly 20 years ago that Martin and Barry Hope signed a Distributor Agreement with Tim Greaves at Radical Sportscars in Peterborough. The Gulf Radical Cup then kicked off in January 2006 and has since attracted hundreds of drivers, many of them taking up racing for the first time.

The grid in Abu Dhabi this weekend clearly demonstrated how Radical’s ‘Race The World’ philosophy had evolved with a mix of ambitious young, and more experienced gentlemen drivers from the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Asia and the Far East, many of them flying in to enjoy a great deal of track time and perfect racing conditions with likeminded racers.

After Friday’s testing, sixteen Radical drivers headed out for a 20 minute qualifying session which would determine the grid positions for the upcoming Sprint Races. For some, this was their first time in Abu Dhabi yet this didn’t stop them putting in some incredible fast lap times. Sixteen year old Mexican Ian Aguilera very quickly showed the benefit of many years in karts, Ginettas and Ligiers as he quickly got to grips with his rented Radical SR3 and was the only driver to get into the 56s with an impressive lap of 1:56.812. This put him three and a half tenths ahead of the very quick Alim Geshev who made his debut last season and young LMP4 racer Jimmy Chou.

So the scene was set for the first of two live streamed 25 minute Sprint races that would be held that afternoon.

The rolling start saw young Aguilera hold his lead into Turn One but coming under pressure from fast starting Usmaan Mughal from P5. Geshev then got past Mughal on the brakes into Turn 6 who now came under pressure from GRC Champion Alex Buchantsov and Chou. Geshev then took the lead into Turn 9 which saw Aguilera running off track and running in P3.

Bukhantsov overtook Aguilera to take P3 as they headed down to Turn 5 and the 1km back straight where Mughal had to take drastic avoiding action as Geshev slowed with a fuel pump issue handing the lead to Mughal who held it to the chequered flag. Chou also was able to find his way past Aguilera after a titanic battle to finish in P3 right behind Champion Bukhantsov. The experienced Las Vegas based GT and Radical racer Greg Gorski, who would later race a Lamborghini in the Hankook 6 Hours finished in P5.

Later that evening, under the lights we saw another epic confrontation as the second Sprint Race took place with Mughal in a GulfSport run XXR making an amazing start from P5 to take the lead into Turn One from Aguilera, Chou and Bukhantsov. Unfortunately Jahid Karim lost the car at the first corner resulting in a Safety Car which meant that Mughal would have to defend the great position he’d gained at the start.

But hold it he did, holding off the close attention of the Mexican, whilst the #1 car of Bukhantsov made a dive into Turn 5 to take P3 from Chou.Behind them was a tremendous battle between Gorski, Julien Monie, Perry David and Jack Yang. At the flag it was Mughal with his second win of the day from Champion Bukhantsov and Chou.

All sixteen drivers headed out at 5pm on Sunday for their Qualification session to form the starting grid for the main race that would take place later that evening. Again it was Aguilera who was the only driver that got into the 56s with a stunning lap of 1:56.359 a full second quicker than P2 man Chou. Bukhantsov and Geshev would line up on the second row. With the circuit being used for F1 now for 15 years, the drivers found very strict control over track limits and consequently nine laps were deleted from the timesheets.

Once all the armco barrier damage from the 6H race was completed, the 45 minute Endurance Race exploded into life under the lights with the two 16 year old drivers on the front row. Somehow all 16 got safely through Turn 1 despite being 4-wide and as they plunged down to Turn 5 it was Aguilera being hassled by Bukhantsov, Chou, Geshev, Mughal, Gorski, David, Yang, Monie, Hadeed, Sorokin, Strijder, Booth, Bachman, Cush and Karim.

Bukhantsov succeeded in getting past and was followed by Chou as Aguilera went wide and off track as he did in the previous race. But this didn’t last long as Aguilera pushed through at the end of the back straight and with Bukhantsov being run wide, Chou slipped past for second place leaving the two young chargers at the head of the pack again.

Meanwhile the midpack drivers were clearly enjoying themselves as positions continued to change and we saw Sorokin and Strijder hassling Monie for 9th place.

A feature of Radical Endurance races is a mandatory 45 second pitstop when the pitlane opens on the 18th minute for 9 minutes. To ensure competitive racing the top three finishers of the last Endurance race are given ‘success penalties’ in the form of additional time added to their pitstops with the winner given an additional 20 seconds, the second placed driver 15 seconds, third place 10 with both P4 and P5 given 5 additional seconds. This really does provide for an exciting race as it does all sorts of strange things to the order on track.

With the previous winner, Luke Hilton not at this event it was Perry David who picked up an additional 15 seconds, Mughal with 10 and Bukhantsov with 5. So once the pitstops were completed and order was restored it was again Aguilera in the lead, followed by Geshev who was comfortably ahead of Bukhantsov, Chou, Gorski, Mughal, Yang, David, Strijder, Hadeed, Sorokin, Monie, Booth, Bachman and Karim.

But with 8 minutes to go the Safety Car came out to deal with with Joel Strijder’s car which was stationary at Turn 12 and this closed up the gaps and made for an even more exciting end to the race.

When the Safety Car released the pack there was only time for one last lap and the cars were closely bunched and eager to take advantage of their competitors if they could. Sure enough, we then saw the very experienced Bukhantsov out braking Geshev into Turn 5 to pick up second position momentarily as Geshev had the better drive off the corner. They ran side by side down the back straight and touched wings being so close as they entered Turn 6, but it was the #1 car on the inside line and so was able to retain his 2nd position. But as they entered Turn 9 at high speed Geshev lost control allowing Chou to jump up to third. A couple of corners later it was young Aguilera who saw the chequered flag first, followed closely by Bukhanstov and Chou.

The final result had Geshev inheriting P3 due to a 10 second penalty given to Chou for an infringement when rejoining the track after the pitstops.

So, a very exciting set of races that demonstrated the amazing skills of these drivers whose fastest laps were comparable to the fastest F4 and GT cars seen on the GP circuit. The next round of the Gulf Radical Cup will be held on the Dubai Autodrome in 4 weeks time.

Round 3 - Race Report

With a break in December, it was back to the iconic Yas Marina Circuit for Round 3 of the Gulf Radical Cup.

Alex Bukhantsov comes into the weekend with a 37 point lead over Usmaan Mughal, but with 5 rounds to go anything could happen.

With the draw of oodles of tracktime, sunny climate the GRC continues to attract new teams and drivers to the grid.

Top UK team Valour Racing were running two new drivers, with Jack Yang and Luke Hilton, Luke was set to drive the GulfSport Racing demo XXR, run by Valour. Also making his debut was Ian Ituarte running with RAW/TTR.

With 6 hours of free practice over the Thursday and Friday there was plenty of time to get to grips with the Yas North circuit. Normally this short configuration with three big braking zones always keeps the grid close together and produces exciting racing - this weekend was to be no exception.

As the cars rolled out for Sprint Race Qualifying, all eyes were on the timing screens to see who had conquered the 3km of Yas tarmac. As the session went by it was clear that newcomer Luke Hilton was fast, as was Usmaan Mughal and Jimmy Chou. However with a series of track limit infringements being posted quick laps were being deleted as the session went on.

But in the end it was indeed Hilton taking Pole only 0.137 ahead on Jimmy Chou, and with a great lap from Yang to take 3rd, 0.399 behind him.

Amazingly there was less than a second between the first 10 cars, so very close for the race ahead.

In post race scrutineering Ian Ituarte was found to be underweight, so would have to serve a back of the grid penalty for Race 1, from his posted time that initially earned him 7th on the grid, so some work to do there.

Later that morning it was time for Sprint Race 1. With a rather messy start Usmaan  Mughal  took full advantage and lead the pack away from Turn 1. Hilton had dropped a few places back and had some work to do to catch up again. As the race progressed Mughal kept a decent lead being chased by Bukhantsov and Chou.

However, midway through the race Chou retired with a gearbox issue. With his car stranded on the back straight the safety car was deployed with only 6 mins to go! With Mughal in the lead, Hilton was back up to second and Bukhanstov in third, it was going to be a race to the finish if the stranded car could be cleared before the clock times out. However while this was going on a message appeared on the timing screens that Hilton was to receive a post race penally of 5 seconds for multiple track infringements. This message undoubtedly was passed to Mughal over team radio!

With forty seconds left the safety car filed onto the pits and left one lap of racing left! Mughal lead the field but Hilton made his move at turn 5 and slid into the lead dropping Mughal to second.

So with the penalty applied it was Mughal taking the win from Bukhantsov and Yang. However following post race scrutineering Bukhantsov's car was found to be underweight and he was removed from the result. Promoting Fuhrmeister to 3rd!

Later that day was Sprint Race 2. Chou who had posted a time for Pole had to miss the start while his engine was still being changed. This left Bukhantsov and Hilton to fight it out in the lead, and for the opening laps of the race the lead changed multiple times with very close, but fair racing - a joy to watch. Alim Geshev was in third. However Mughal was on a charge and had worked his way up to 2nd but the later stages of the race. Holding good pace behind the leader Hilton, but not really looking like a threat, and Bukhantsov behind him.

However the number 21 SR3 XXR of Mughal was given a time penalty for track limit infringements, meaning as he crossed the line in it was Hilton taking a great win, from Bukhantsov with Ian Ituarte on the podium for the first time in third.

The next day was just as sunny, and it was time for the Enduro Race qualifying.

Impressively it was Hilton again taking pole, from Chou and Yang.

As the race got underway, it was Hilton to took the lead, from Chou, Mughal, Fuhrmeister and Yang, all nose to tail.

Notably new coming this season, Perikles Daremas had his best qualifying for this race, but after light contact at the start had dropped back to 10th, but was making good progress through the field.

As the pit stops came around Hilton, who had no pit stop penalty from the last race (as he wasn’t there), cruised in and out without any drama and resumed the lead of the race. However Chou and Bukhantsov both had penalties from there success at the previous Dubai race. This meant that as the pack was still close, it was Mughal who was able to jump to second with Fuhrmeister close behind. As the race got back into full swing following the pit stop it was Daremas making moves and was up to 4th, having passed the rest of the field.

Things looked pretty comfortable for the front 3 as the race came to a close, but it was not over yet! With just 8 mins to go, the safety car was deployed. Following close racing between Feyzulin and Khazzoum, the number 5 car of Khazzoum was stranded in a dangerous position on the exit of turn 6. Just as in sprint race 1, this left just a few minutes to go, and with 4 minutes of racing left the car was cleared and the race was on. As the cars streamed through turn 1 Hilton had held off Mughal, but on the penultimate lap Chou put a move into turn 5 making contact with Mughal, pushing him off line and allowing the others through. Daremas was right there to strike as he also passed Mughal, and right up behind Chou going onto the back straight. Chou took to the inside to defend while Daremas stayed to his right as they braked in to turn 6, Chou ran wide and Daremas slipped up the inside to take second, great move!

So on track that was another win for Hilton, second for Daremas, and third for Chou. However the incident was spotted between Chou and Mughal and it was deemed Chou had made contact and forced Mughal off the track, he was given an 20 second penalty for that, allowing Mughal to move up to third.

With only two weeks to go and the Gulf Radical Cup is back at the Yas Marina Circuit, but this time on the full GP Circuit.

Round 2 - Race Report

Round 2 of the Gulf Radical Cup got underway this weekend at the Dubai Autodrome. Moving into November see the best weather in the UAE, a beautiful morning of sun and 25 degrees, perfect for racing!

Coming into the weekend Usmaan Mughal was leading in the points race, with reigning champion Alex Bukhantsov close behind.

With live coverage from day one of the racing, there was a buzz in the pitlane, teams and TV crew waiting in anticipation for the green light to come on at the end of pitlane, signifying the start of Sprint Qualifying. And, at 0900 it did right on time, all cars rolled out on track.

In the end it was Bukhantsov taking pole, but Khazzoum right behind in the time sheets, just 0.097 behind, Jimmy Chou taking 3rd.

A couple of hours later the cars rolled out for the first sprint race, 25 minutes long. Bukhantsov got away very well, as the cars came into the turn 1 it was 4 wide, but close behind and on the dusty part of the track was Alim Geshev, spinning under brakes, he came across the inside run off and collected Jimmy Chou, but as Chou spun backwards he hit Mark Holme, this left both Chou and Holme entangled and stranded by the side of the track, while Geshev was able to drive away.

Meanwhile Mughal had made a great start around the outside, just avoiding the incident was was second behind Bukhantsov, but as the cars ran through the club link the safety car was deployed.

After a few laps the cars were moved away and it was racing again. Bukhanstov kept his lead, with Mughal, Khazzoum and Fuhrmeister close behind.

Soon Feyzulin had past Fuhrmester up to 4th. Bukhantsov had opened a lead, but it was all to play for with Mughal and Khazzoum close in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Behind them Huskinson was having a good battle moving up the order passing Hadeed and Daremas with some close racing.

In the end Bukhantsov was unstoppable taking the win, from Mughal, then Khazzoum.

A few hours later was the start of Sprint Race 2. Again Bukhantsov making a great start, with Khazzoum behind followed by Feyzulin. Mughal made a poor start and was working his way up from 6th.

Feyzulin put a great move on Khazzoum around the outside of turn 4 to pass him up to second. With Mughal slipping up to 5th, then the lap later to 4th and right on the tail of Khazzoum.

Holme was now close to Mughal in 5th, forcing Mughal to look forwards and backwards.

In the end the order stayed the same, with another great win for Bukhantsov, second for Feyzulin, and Khazzoum third.

The next day started with Enduro Qualifying. Again, taking pole was Bukhantsov from Khazzoum as in the Sprint Races.

In the race Bukhantsov got away well, but making a great start was Geshev, slipping up to second. On lap two Daremas made a pass on Monie on the brakes into turn one, but out braking himself on the dust, Dramas started to spin with Monie unable to avoid him. Both cars sustained damage, Daremas was able to continue but Monie was stranded, so the safety car was deployed for the second time of the weekend.

A few laps later and racing resumed, but only a few minutes before the pit stop window opened. Coming in first was Holme, Fuhrmeister and Chou. Followed on the next lap by race leader Bukhantsov and Mughal. Unfortunately Mughal had to serve a 45 + 20 second additional pit stop time from winning the race back at YAS, where as Bukhantsov was free to just serve the standard 45 seconds.

As the order sorted itself out after the pitstops, Bukhantsov had a comfortable lead from Geshev, with Chou in third. Mughal pulled in to the pits and retirement after a throttle sensor failure. Khazzoum had passed Chou in the link section, but was very close to track limits and this would be investigated after the race.

Huskinson had kept good pace and worked his was from the back of the grid up to 6th.

The chequered flag was out and Bukhantsov crossed the line for his three out of three wins from the weekend. Leaving the rest of the field with some work to do to get close to him. Geshev took second with Chou promoted to third following a post race penalty handed to Khazzoum for gaining an advantage off track.

So going away from Round Two sees Bukhantsov taking over the lead of the series from Mughal. There is a break in the racing now, and action will resume at Yas Marina Circuit at the start of January in the new year!

Round 1 - Race Report

Round 1 of the 2023/24 Gulf Radical Cup got underway at the famous Formula 1 circuit of Yas Marina this weekend.

Most teams and drivers are at the track from Thursday onwards, starting the event with a three hour open pitlane test (Dragon Test Days). But this was bizarrely cut short because of a freak storm, high winds and a drenched track, meaning three hours were cut to just one.

However, the following morning (Friday), the sun was out and the un-seasonal rain had gone. The day started with three hours of ‘untimed’ practice, then the 30 minute official practice shortly after.

Topping the time sheets was Usmaan Mughal of Relentless Racing, but with reigning champion Alex Bukhantsov not taking part in that session, it was expected for him to be pushing for that top spot the following morning.

This season, as always sees new drivers and cars, with 4 new faces on the grid, two of which would be taking part in their first ever car race.

Saturday morning was Sprint Qualifying. Here the drivers need to set two fast laps, the first to set the grid for Sprint Race 1, and the next fastest lap to set the grid for Sprint Race 2. Alex Bukhantsov was able to take the first Pole of the year with a 1:59.235, with Johnny Khazzoum taking second in his new SR3 XXR, and Usmaan Mughal in third.

A short while later Sprint Race 1 got underway, Mughal had made a great start and slipped in to the lead at turn 1, with Bukhantsov close behind him. But as the cars streamed into the hotel complex it all got a bit too close in the mid pack, and Zig Fuhrmeister was squeezed to the curb, resulting in a spin and clipping the barrier. His car was left stranded in the middle of the track, unable to get going again. This meant the safety car had to be deployed while the car was removed from the circuit. After a couple of laps the stricken car was out the way and racing could resume. Mughal kept his lead despite and challenge from Bukhantsov around the outside of turn nine, with Alim Geshev and Amir Feyzulin in hot pursuit.

A couple of laps later Bukhantsov was able to sneak past to take the lead, putting Mughal back to  second. However he would not hold that for long and on the timing screens a message was posted from race control saying that the Safety Car restart was being investigated, a few laps later a Drive Through Penalty was handed to Mughal, certainly taking him out of contention, but promoting Geshev and Feyzulin to podium positions. This is where it stayed until the end of the race.

A few hours later was Sprint Race 2. Again starting from the Pole, Bukhantsov took the lead. Mughal was in second with Geshev in third. As the race progressed newcomer Jimmy Chou was pushing hard and fast, as was Geshev, who was on the tail of Mughal in the closing laps. As he made the move to take second place into turn 6, Geshev overshot, and spinning onto the run off area, allowing Jimmy Chou through. Geshev got going again, and was able to keep 4th, followed by Feyzulin and Monie.

The following day was Enduro day, with qualifying up first.

Again Bukhantsov impressed with another pole. However the gap was now closer, with Geshev taking second only 0.09 behind, third was Khazzoum 0.2 behind that. Then only 0.9 seconds covering the next 9 drivers. A close race ahead was expected.

The Enduro is a 45 minute race, with a mandatory 45 second pitstop. As the cars took the start it was very tight in to turn 1, Bukhantsov squeezed Geshev to take the lead on the first lap. Opening up an initial gap, Mughal was able to close a bit keeping in touch with the leader. Some contact at turn 9 had seen some debris strewn across the track, forcing the race director to deploy the safety car, to allow marshals to clear the way. They did this very quickly and the safety car was withdrawn, but at the same moment the pit stop window was opened. Signalling the start of pit stops.

Some chose to pit immediately, some chose to run a couple extra laps. But the front three would all come in together, nose to tail. That was Bukhantsov, followed by Mughal, followed by Holme in third. All pit stops were clean and no advantages were taken. Now it was just a race to the finish. However, a message came across the screen that Mark Holme was to have a 5 second penalty for gaining an “off track advantage”, and with Jimmy Chou setting some fast laps from 4th place, it was going to be tight at the end.

As the chequered flag came out, it was Bukhantsov first, Mughal second and Holme third. But after the time penalty correction for Holme, Chou would be promoted to 3rd. However, that was not the end of action. In post race scrutineering the wining car was presented underweight, thus resulting in a disqualification, promoting Mughal to the winning spot. In addition to this Chou was also given a 5 second penalty for contact during the race. This pushed Holme to second and put Chou back to third.

Just a two week gap, until the next round at the Dubai Autodrome.

Chou to complete full season in GRC

Next driver to confirm their entry to the Gulf Radical Cup is Jimmy Chou.

Chou took part in the GRC at the end of last season coming 4th in his debut race, and has been keeping himself in tune over the summer season in Europe racing and testing in LMP4, completing 4 events so far in his rookie year.

He will use the winter season in the UAE to prepare for a full assault on the 2024 season in the Europe. Chou is coached by James Winslow, who coached the last two GRC Champions.

Jimmy Chou commented:

“Im happy to come and spend the winter in the UAE. Ill learn a lot from my coach over the winter season driving my SR3 XX in preparation for the next year. The Radical is the closest thing to LMP racing but at a much lower budget.”

Chou is expected to be out on track at the first pre-season test at YAS on the 10th of October.

National Award and LMP3 Test coming this season

The Gulf Radical Cup debuted in the UAE in 2006, and has continued to grow every year since then. Attracting local talent, and from further a field, but more so over recent years.

So it only seems right to recognise those two demographics racing in the GRC. This season sees the launch of the Gulf Radical Cup ‘National Class Award’. This is a class/award that allows drivers holding national level licences (not only UAE), to score points on a separate tally to compete for the title at the end of the year. Not only will they be recognised as the GRC National Class Champion they will also be awarded the coveted prize to take a funded drive in the latest Radical SR3 XXR in the UK in the 2024 season.

This prize had been reserved for overall Champion in previous years, but this year sees the reintroduction of an old partnership with Team Virage, thus making way for this new award. Virage is one of Europes top LMP teams, and 2023/24 champion will be offered a test in a Virage LMP3 Car in Spain. Spending the first of two  days at the Virage Academy facility in their state of the art simulator, then taking to the track the following day.

Julien Gerbi  - Virage Team Manager commented:

“We’re really happy to see the development of the Gulf Radical Cup in the Emirates. This series allowed many drivers to race at a competitive level in fantastic conditions during the winter and, with the experience of GulfSport Racing, has become a great platform for many drivers willing to pursue a career racing LMP in Europe. We’ll follow closely the series to see which talent will come out, and are looking forward getting the 2023/2024 champion behind the wheel of one of our cars next year!”

The season kicks off in October at Yas, and its going to be exciting to see who shows early pace and their intentions to take one of these fantastic prizes.

GulfSport Director Martin Hope commented:

“We have had a great relationship with Virage over the years, and recently Gulf Radical Cup drivers have come from far and wide, and with varying experience, but more and more are looking to progress to LMP3/4. However,  we also recognise the commitment of our National level drivers. Both these rewards are perfectly placed for our ambitious international drivers and local, national talent.”

Previous and current GRC drivers, like Alex Buhkantsov, Jacopo Mazza, James Sweetnam, George King and Amir Feyzulin have all raced in LPM3 or 4 while keeping their eye in with Radical Racing in the GRC.

Drivers score points at all 21 races, but only the highest 18 count towards the final tally. This allows for a ‘problematic’ race weekend to be dropped, or even if life gets in the way of racing and an event has to be missed.

To know more about opportunities to get on track with Team Virage get in touch.